James D Best is the author of the bestselling Steve Dancy Tales: The Shopkeeper, Leadville, Murder at Thumb Butte, The Return, Jenny's Revenge, and Crossing the Animas. Other novels include Tempest at Dawn, The Shut Mouth Society, and Deluge. Nonfiction titles include Principled Action and The Digital Organization. James has ghost written three books, authored two regular magazine columns, and published numerous journal articles. .

In 1862, a sixty-five day downpour pummeled the western United States. California suffered the brunt of the storm. Almost a third of the state was under water, roads were impassible, telegraph lines down, rivers overflowed, hundreds of people died, and hundreds of thousands of animals drowned. Sacramento remained under water for six months, forcing the state government to move to San Francisco. Geological evidence shows that a flood of this magnitude hits California every one to two hundred years.